


a song for the damned

by benito



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game), Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Dead by Daylight au, Graphic Violence, M/M, Slasher Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, also a few descriptions of murder, brief impalement? you know what this means if you play dead by daylight, it's halloween. shit's scary, not super graphic but yknow. theyre serial killers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-03 18:43:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16331468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benito/pseuds/benito
Summary: After a thick fog started to roll in, Gabriel had decided to take the risk of fighting off an assailant and hitchhike; sticking a thumb out towards the road, he continued on his way down the desolate path.For the first few minutes, cars passed, none stopping, but still driving by, giving Gabriel the sign that, at the very least, he was still among civilization.Soon, there were no cars.Later, there was no road.Then, there was only a campfire.





	a song for the damned

**Author's Note:**

> happy halloween!
> 
> this is a one shot for now but i might continue it later once i finish some other projects im working on

Three months ago, Gabriel’s car broke down.

Which was really, at first, no big deal. He’s an army man—he could cope with having to walk a few miles.

The problem was—the walk quickly became more than a few miles. Which was weird, because he could’ve sworn his GPS had marked him just a few miles from the nearest town.

After a thick fog started to roll in, he decided to take the risk of fighting off an assailant and hitchhike; sticking a thumb out towards the road, he continued on his way down the desolate path.

For the first few minutes, cars passed, none stopping, but still driving by, giving Gabriel the sign that, at the very least, he was still among civilization.

Soon, there were no cars.

Later, there was no road.

Then, there was only a campfire.

He thought quietly back to this as he held back his own breath, his fingers no longer shaking as he fiddled with a generator in front of him, trying to get it on as fast as his hands could manage. Hana was on the other side of him, both having a whispered conversation as they worked.

“Who is it?” Gabriel asked first, occasionally glancing up at her between movements.

“Not sure. Definitely not the Hog or the Rat…” she began, wiping sweat from her forehead. “I haven’t heard his chains anywhere. No bear traps either.”

He nods, mulling over the information in his head.

“Maybe-“

 _“Gabe!”_ Someone screamed in the distance.

They both suddenly stopped, a chill rushing through their bodies. It was one way the Entity liked to work, making them acutely aware when one of their own had been captured. A few moments after the scream, the two let out a sharp gasp, a hole in their vision showing them exactly what was happening across the field: Jesse, hanging from a hook, screaming in agony as he tried to wiggle himself free.

“Shit.” Gabriel cursed to himself, just as Lena darted into view, panting as she spoke.

“Gabe… it’s…”

“We know.”

“No…” she bent down, resting her hands on her knees, “… it’s the Soldier.”

 _“Shit.”_ He repeated, though the sentiment felt about ten times worse than before. After a moment, he gives a short nod, standing up from his spot. “Lena, finish the generator, make sure you and Hana get to the gate. I’ll get Jesse and meet you both there.”

Lena nodded, knowing that, regardless of how ridiculously implausible that plan sounded, Reyes was not going to budge on going back for McCree. She took his spot, immediately getting to work on the generator, hoping to get it powered on as fast as possible. Gabriel crouched down, then took off into the fog.

His mind raced as he walked in the direction the Entity was leading him, guided by the silhouette of Jesse struggling against the hook impaled through his shoulder, his gasps and cries pounding against Gabe’s ears.

In the time he had been here, in— _whatever_ the Entity was—he’d started documenting whatever information he could uncover. Information on the other people who’d been taken and placed here with him—and the killers tasked with using them as prey.

From what he knew, the Entity pulled killers and survivors from different universes. Each killer was often pulled into it with a survivor—sometimes the survivor would be someone connected to the killer, and sometimes they’d be unrelated, only pulled into this hellscape by mere bad luck.

Hana Song had been brought into the Entity three weeks ago, along with a large, horrifying killer by the name of the Hog. From what she had told the rest of the group, there was no correlation between them—she found her way to the campsite during a blackout in her neighborhood.

Lena Oxton found herself in this pocket of hell two months ago. She was accompanied by a tall, spider-like woman named the Widow. Lena _had_ been very aware of the Widow in her universe, apparently being some sort of variation of Bloody Mary in their Europe. Lena had said she woke up, sleeping next to the campfire after a run-in with the Widow, in which she managed to fight the killer off before both were plunged into darkness.

Jesse McCree had been here nearly three months, arriving a little after Gabriel. His unfortunate pair was a woman by the name of the Shadow, who seemed to be able to hide her very being until she was about to strike. Jesse said she’d never heard of the woman, though he had met someone bearing a striking resemblance to her at the bar he was at just before he’d drunkenly wandered into an alley, fallen asleep, and woken up leaning against a tree in an unfamiliar forest.

Then there was him, Gabriel Reyes, present in this personal hell for three months, just after his car broke down. According to Genji and Reinhardt—two of the survivors who’d been here before him—he’d shown up here along with the Soldier. From what he had gathered from his encounters with the strange villain and his realm, the Soldier was some sort of ex-supersoldier. Kept in a tank for nearly ten years, a genetic experiment had severely altered him, leaving him a functionally indestructible, mute man with a vengeance. After going on a rampage and leaving twenty men dead in his path, he wandered off the army base he’d been condemned to, and stalked into the night, never to be seen again.

Gabriel had never heard of him. The fact that they were from the same universe was incredibly disconcerting, but not unbelievable. The army he’d worked for was incredibly morally dubious—an experiment to that caliber and its unfortunate results being kept under wraps was not out of the realm of possibility.

What made things more complicated was the fact that the Soldier never harmed Gabriel.

Never. Not once had the man ever hit him or even moderately hurt him, even if provoked. And Gabriel had definitely provoked him before, shoving him or tripping him to slow him down during his hunt for the other survivors. But, even when he managed to corner Gabriel, he’d only pick him up, throw him over his shoulder, and set him down next to the nearest generator, trapdoor, or gate.

Gabriel didn’t exactly complain, but it also raised about a hundred questions that he could never get the answers to, due to the fact that the man was, for one thing, mute, and for another, only ever in the same realm for about hour-long intervals in which he was hunting his friends.

The situation wasn’t ideal.

He’d asked around before, curious as to whether or not anyone else’s killers behaved in such a manner. The only one who’d answered similarly was Genji, who’s killer was some sort of demonic form of his brother. Which… was incredibly strange, admittedly. But it was a reason, at least. The Dragon didn’t touch Genji, still ashamed of the scars on Genji’s body he’d created in their past universe. This was—more or less—a believable explanation.

From what he knew, there was no common denominator between him and the Soldier aside from their military backgrounds. And even then, there was no further commonality—no locations, no missions, even their tours were separated by a few years. Nothing connected this strange killer with Gabriel Reyes, and yet he was always treated as if they’d been close friends.

It had become frustrating. This… this man—this killer—knew _something_ about Gabriel, but, try as he might, he could not figure out _what._

Gabriel furrowed his brow and focused on the task at hand, picking up his pace as he closed in on Jesse. As he approached, he heard a familiar rhyme start to fill the world around him.

_Go to sleep you little baby… Go to sleep you little baby…_

He bit the inside of his cheek. The song seemed to come from the air itself, signifying the Soldier had recently been here. The louder it rung in his ears, the closer he was to their location. Unfortunately, the Soldier moved so fast, this was less of a warning to _leave_ and more of an indication of your coming doom.

_Your momma’s gone away and your daddy’s gone to stay, didn’t leave nobody but the baby…_

It began to fade in volume, and Gabriel let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. Under the cover of the foliage, he peered through the gaps between the branches to see what he was working with.

Jesse was no longer struggling to get off the hook—he was now gritting his teeth, hands both firmly pushing away a long, black tendril of the Entity pressing closer to his neck.

He ran in, immediately putting his hands under Jesse’s arms and tugging him off the hook. The Entity hissed, its tendrils retreating into the sky, unable to feed on him when he wasn’t hanging.

_… Everybody’s gone in the cotton and the corn, didn’t leave nobody but the baby…_

“Thanks, Reyes.” Jesse spoke in pants, his voice strained from screaming, his shoulder still bleeding. Gabriel put an arm around him for support and lead him into what seemed to be an old, withered army building, signaling they were not only in the presence of the Soldier, but also among his realm. Essentially: they needed to move fast. They were playing on his home turf.

Gabriel had made sure to bring a medical kit with him this trial, luckily, and quickly went to work securing a layer of gauze and disinfectant on the wound. He was also slightly bruised, and it seemed like he’d somehow broken his nose trying to wiggle out of the Soldier’s grasp.

“Angela’s going to have to set that.”

McCree whined.

“Well goddammit, kid, you know you’re not supposed to go off alone.”

“I was looking for an offering!”

“Did you at least find it?”

This time he smirked, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a small wreath made of animal bones. They were offerings—some sort of ritualistic item used to sway the Entity in their favor in the next trial. Though they were often found all over the various realms, there always seemed to be more effective ones in riskier places, a particularly good spot for them being—

“Did you go into the _basement?”_

He didn’t answer, and, God, if Gabriel didn’t know he was already in so much pain he’d punch him.

_Honey in the rock and the sugar don’t stop, gonna bring a bottle to the baby…_

Gabriel cursed to himself, the rhyme suddenly starting to get louder again. The killer knew Jesse was off the hook; he’d be coming back soon.

“Do you know how dangerous those hooks are? You know how fucked you would’ve been if he’d put you on the shrine in there?”

“But he _didn’t_.”

Gabriel rubbed his temples, suddenly frowning at the statement.

“He… what?”

“He didn’t. He picked me up while I was digging through the trunk down there and walked right past ‘em.”

_She’s long gone, with the red shoes on, gonna meet another lovin’ baby…_

“Why’d he do that?”

“Beats me. I wasn’t complaining. Not that I liked being hung on a hook _above_ ground much more.”

He suddenly sinks into his own thoughts, wondering quietly what the implications of such behavior could possibly mean in the long term. Maybe the Soldier didn’t like giving the Entity easy prey? Maybe he was afraid of the shrine?

_Don’t you weep, pretty baby…_

“Uh, Reyes?”

Maybe he was hoping someone would save him?

_Don’t you weep, pretty baby…_

“Reyes!”

_“What?”_

McCree said nothing, only pointing over his shoulder. Reyes felt a cold breath on his shoulder, and suddenly came to a much more plausible conclusion:

Maybe he was using him as _bait._

_You and me and the devil makes three…_

Gabriel turned around, slowly, looking up before him at Jack Morrison—more commonly known nowadays as _the Soldier._ He was a tall, brick wall of a man, broad-shouldered and solidly built. Gabriel and Fareeha were the only ones in the group who’d ever managed to knock him over, and even then, they had offerings giving them the element of surprise. Clad in an unzipped, orange jacket, his undershirt had a low collar that revealed an inhumanly pale skin with two strange, metal bolts seemingly built into his collarbone.

But even this was not the most intimidating part of this man; no, that would be the mask.

The Soldier wore an old hockey mask, seemingly attached to his face permanently. His eyes were visible through it, but Gabriel could never see anything but the slightest outline behind the orange glow they emitted. His breath always hung in the air in front of him, as if the spirit had been permanently condemned to a freezing hell. In his arm, he carried an old, rusted chainsaw. Gabriel had never seen him use it, only hitting survivors with the back of it or just dropping it to use a smaller—but still equally terrifying—knife he had on inside of his coat. He thinks there’s some sort of ability given by the Entity tied to the chainsaw he hadn’t used yet—hopefully by choice.

“Gabe, what do we—”

“Shush.” He quieted McCree quickly, standing still in front of the Soldier. He knew his sight was worsened by both the Entity and the fog; he relied primarily on sound to hunt. They were whispering too loudly.

_… don’t need no other lovin’ baby…_

The Soldier stepped closer, leaning down, definitely aware they were present, trying to make them out among the thick fog and dust that covered the building. His hand reached out, inching closer to Gabriel’s face, and he felt his heart pounding against his chest when a siren suddenly rang out.

Hana and Lena were opening the gate.

_“Run!”_

He pulled McCree up by the waist and took off, vaulting them both through a window frame and back into the woods. The rhyme had suddenly faded into the fog, now replaced by a beating heart; an indication that the killer was now in pursuit, and he was close.

Jesse was normally one of the faster survivors, though he was considerably injured and grunting as he ran, trying to fight off the throbbing pain in his shoulder as they dashed in the direction of the ringing siren. They managed a good twenty seconds of uninterrupted running before McCree tripped on a fallen tree, tumbling down and screaming in pain as his shoulder collided with the ground. Gabriel slid into a halt, turning around in time to see the Soldier catch up, dropping his chainsaw and pulling a blade out from the inside of his coat. With Jesse at this state of health, a single hit from him would easily kill him.

 _“Stop!”_ Gabriel yelled, running as fast as he could manage to tackle the killer. He dove between the two, and a sharp gasp escaped his lips as he suddenly felt the familiar sensation of a blade between his ribs. He looked down, staring at the Soldier’s hand, still on the knife impaled into his stomach. He suddenly released the knife, his hand trembling, and Reyes collapsed onto the ground behind him.

“Reyes!” McCree gasped, about to reach out to him.

 _“Go,”_ was all Gabe said, meeting Jesse’s eyes. He looked between Reyes and the killer, hesitant for a moment, before giving an unsure nod and taking off towards the siren.

The Soldier growled, about to follow after him when a sharp, horrible sound rang from the air, a set of tendrils reaching down for the wounded Gabriel. He could’ve sworn he heard the killer gasp, suddenly putting an arm underneath his nape and legs and lifting him up, taking off, away from the Entity’s grasp. Gabriel could feel his hands trembling as hard as he felt the throbbing in his stomach.

After a few minutes, Gabriel was nearly unconscious, only remembering the vague sensation of being placed down on an old cot, and the sight of the Soldier standing over him. Before he fell completely out of consciousness, he recalls, just vaguely, the sight of him pulling his mask back, revealing a handsome, scarred face beneath, a trail of dried tears seemingly stained on his cheeks. A familiar rhyme picked up, one more time, as he felt the killer pull the knife out.

_… Go to sleep, little baby…_

He woke up at the campfire, leaning against a tree. He was shirtless now, gauze wrapped around his midriff, his jacket hung around his shoulders. Taking stock of who was around him, he checked to see that everyone else had safely made it out.

Hana was leaning against Lucio on the far side of the campfire, both of them having a quiet conversation with Genji. Lena was a few feet from Gabe, sleeping soundly next to Jesse, who was currently having his shoulder inspected by Angela.

It seemed Aleksandra, Ana, Fareeha, and Reinhardt were still currently in a trial. He quickly said a prayer to himself, praying for their safe return, hoping that his God still heard him here. Trying to sit himself up, he quickly let out a sharp gasp of pain, quickly getting Angela’s attention. She gave a disapproving look, rushing to his side.

“Don’t move. The Entity didn’t completely mend the wound, and I don’t have enough supplies to stop the bleeding if it opens again.”

Gabriel grumbled, but nodded, reasoning he had no interest in bleeding out at the campfire. But, that reason soon came with the realization that his wound still being as fresh as it was meant… he’d escaped?

“How’d I get here?”

Angela bit his lip, then turned to Jesse, who’d been listening in on the conversation.

“We don’t know, Reyes.” He said, joining them quietly, as to not wake Lena.

“You don’t know?”

Jesse shrugs. “After the three of us escaped, we waited in the campfire for you.”

Angela interrupted him, sitting down in front of Gabriel. “I was tending to Jesse’s shoulder when we heard a trapdoor open nearby. Jesse was in no shape for any more confrontation, so me and Reinhardt went to investigate.”

Gabriel nodded, and Angela and Jesse shared a look before she continued. “When we found you, you were just… laid there, right outside the trapdoor, wrapped in gauze, with your jacket folded next to you. It was like someone just… carefully left you there.”

McCree spoke once more, unceremoniously plopping himself down next to them. “Reinhardt carried you back. He was helping Angela patch you up too, but he got pulled into a trial a few minutes ago. The Amaris and Zaryanova too.”

Gabriel frowned, mulling over the information.

“How long have I been out?”

“About a day and a half, give or take. My internal clock’s all busted, given that it’s always night time around here.” McCree sighed, leaning against a log to support himself.

He put everything together in his head; the trapdoor, the images he saw before he passed out, everything that happened in the previous trial, trying to comprehend what exactly was going on. Realizing that his gaps in memory would be of no help, he decided to bring it to the group once the next trial was over.

A few hours later, the four missing survivors ran back into the campfire, Aleksandra carrying an unconscious Fareeha as they arrived. They’d had a run in with the Scientist: Angela’s killer. She was a tall, fearsome woman, who’d spent decades using government grants to secretly fund her scientific endeavors, hoping to break the laws of physics and defeat death itself. After running out of money, she disappeared, and authorities later finding the corpses of nearly thirty victims in her lab, all decayed further than should’ve been possible in such a short amount of time.

Evidently, Fareeha had been hiding in a locker when the woman found her, using her abilities to weaken her enough to hang her from a hook. She was lucky enough to be found by Zaryanova before the Entity had a chance to feed on her, and they managed to escape through a trapdoor while Ana and Reinhardt distracted the Scientist by opening the gate. Though a close call, all four were accounted for, more or less intact.

After everyone was treated and settled, it seemed they had been gifted a moment of peace, and Gabriel shared his information. The killer, his encounters, the fact that he’d seemingly been the one to save him from the Entity, hoping his fellow survivors would have some insight as to what this meant.

“That’s lucky,” Genji said, when he had finished. “Hanzo never helps me. He just ignores me. Sometimes he laughs when I trip.”

“Can you _not_ call him Hanzo?” Hana asks, her arms crossed in front of her. “He’s like… an evil demon killer, now.”

Genji shrugs.

“Guys.” Reyes says, bringing them back to the topic at hand.

“Sorry.” They apologize in unison.

“Maybe you were brainwashed.” Jesse begins, eliciting a groan from the rest of the group. “Now hold on, I’m just saying. If this guy was experimented on and turned into some sorta mass-murdering Frankenstein, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that they made Gabe forget about meeting him.”

Zaryanova spoke up next, ignoring McCree’s theory. “Maybe he respects your authority. If he is lower rank than you, he would not want to appear insubordinate.”

Reinhardt nods in agreement, as if this reason was all well and good.

“Maybe,” Lena starts next, tapping her chin. “Maybe you remind him of someone!”

“What?” Gabriel asks, hearing the first reasonable start to a theory in the conversation.

She suddenly sinks back into her seat, as if she wasn’t prepared to have to expand on that. “Well, you know… what’s that rhyme that plays when he’s nearby? It’s like a lullaby! Maybe it has to do with his… past life. Maybe you look like someone from there.”

Gabriel nods, compiling everyone’s suggestions in his head. He turns to Angela, currently resting against Reinhardt’s shoulder, not having slept for the past two days due to the constant barrage of injuries coming in.

“Angie, what do you think?”

She suddenly sits up, hearing her name, fiddling with her fingers; a nervous tick when she’s thinking.

“Well…” she starts, looking over to Lena then back to him. “… it’s very possible. These killers _are_ all human—or were at some point—so it’s not unlikely that they’re just as scared and confused as we are. If one of them recognized a positive figure in their life—even someone resembling one—they might see them as some sort of… comfort object.”

“Like a teddy bear?”

She gives a small laugh. “Well, yes, but for people who’ve been through major trauma—and from what you’ve told us, that seems to be the case—it’s possible there was someone in his past life that he viewed as some sort of grounding force; something to keep him together. Their death or disappearance could’ve been what turned him from a soldier to… that, in the first place. Seeing him—or someone who looks like him—again could possibly be reminding him of his humanity, or simply just be giving him something to protect.”

Gabriel nods, taking this new information into account as he continues his internal investigation on the Soldier. He dismisses the group with that, and everyone retreats to their usual spots, quickly going to sleep or sinking into conversations amongst each other.

Ana and Fareeha join him, Fareeha quickly falling asleep beside Gabriel as he and Ana fall into conversation.

“This place never seems to give us a rest.” Ana says, a smile in her voice, and bags under her eyes.

“No kidding,” he replies softly, a hand resting on the gauze still around his stomach. “You should sleep, Ana. I can keep watch.”

“I will. I wanted to check on you first.”

“The wound’s closing up already—”

“Not on the stab wound, Reyes. We’ve gotten enough of those for a lifetime. I wanted to make sure _you_ were doing alright.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

She shrugs. “It’s a lot to process. Not only being kidnapped, but trapped here, with a killer who seems to know more about you than you about it—it’s enough to give anyone high blood pressure. And you’re more prone to stress than most people I know.”

“I am _not—”_

“Don’t argue with me.”

He frowns. “… Alright, well, I’m fine, really. It’s… uncomfortable, to say the least. He’s like some stranger, intruding on this… game. He doesn’t seem to fit in with everything else here. And if he doesn’t belong here, what does that say about me?”

She furrows her brows, not understanding. He huffs, then continues.

“It’s like we’re two lab rats, forced to either eat each other or die of starvation. And really—I almost think it’d be easier if he did the former.”

Ana looked concerned. “Gabriel—”

“I know, I know. The Entity feeds on hopelessness. But I’m not… I still have faith that we’ll escape. But it’s like his presence here… it doesn’t fit.”

“Doesn’t fit what, Gabe?”

“It doesn’t fit in with what we know. He doesn’t follow the Entity’s orders, he doesn’t do what the other killers do—he’s like a giant wrench in the machine.”

“And that’s… bad?”

“No! No, it’s… it’s confusing!”

“Why?”

He exhales loudly. “I don’t know.”

She tilts her head, reaching a hand out to rub his cheek. “Gabriel, I think you need to rest.”

Gabriel sighs. “I don’t think this kind of tired can be fixed with sleep.”

A few days later, Gabriel had (more or less) recovered from his stab wound and found himself back in a trial once again. He and Genji ducked behind trees, slipping in and out of hiding places, looking for the nearest generator. The location seemed to belong to the Shadow—Gabriel recognized the vague attempt the Entity made at recreating Mexican foliage, though that didn’t necessarily mean the Shadow was among them. And, for their sake, he _really_ hoped she wasn’t.

Across the map, they suddenly heard a scream, followed by the soft sound of a music box, and realized who the creature of the hour was this time.

They were currently in the web of the Widow.

“That was Hana!” Genji said in a whisper, looking off to the direction of the scream.

Gabe bit the inside of his cheek, then motioned him towards the sound. “Go get her. I’ll find the generator and start working on it. Hopefully the sound will draw her to me.”

Genji nodded and took off into the fog.

A few minutes later, Gabriel found the first generator, and quickly got to work. He pulled two wires together and a sharp _crack_ threw him backwards, damaging the generator slightly, but immediately alerting the killer that someone was trying to get the power back on.

“Over here, you spider-bitch.”

The soft song of a music box played as she got closer, and Gabriel continued to work on the generator, occasionally making it spark solely to keep her on his path. A few minutes later, she came into view, and Gabriel stood up and bolted in the opposite direction of Genji and Hana.

The Widow was once an accomplished ballet dancer, married to a wealthy man by the name of Gerard LaCroix. After the Entity sensed something dark within her, it began whispering to her, slowly convincing her of her own bloodlust, until one night she murdered her husband in his sleep, taking off into the darkness of midnight without a trace.

With the Entity’s influence, she’d become an expert killer, clad with a mask over the top of her face, styled like a black widow, allowing her better vision among the fog. She was also equipped with a grappling hook she used to swing between trees and rooftops, as well as trap survivors, much like that of a spider’s web. She was a deadly opponent, and Lena seemed to be the only one capable of surviving an up-close encounter with her.

Gabriel watched as the trees above him shook as she swung between them, following his path as he ran. He was fully prepared to be captured and sacrificed to the Entity, so long as Hana, Genji, and Angela managed to open the gates and return to the campfire. The Entity had fed on him many times, and it would surely feed on him many more. He had not—nor would he anytime soon—given up hope that he would beat this beast, and he would not sacrifice his friends to do it.

The Widow suddenly dropped down in front of him, a sinister smile on her face as she closed in. He turned to run, only to be pulled back when her grappling hook shot out and tied around his ankles, pulling him down, straight onto his nose. Screaming out in pain, he fell to the floor, and slowly felt the Widow reel him in, admiring her latest prize.

Gabriel struggled against the rope, trying to wiggle free, when a new noise filled the air and suddenly brought him—and the Widow—to a screaming halt. In the distance, a chainsaw revved to life, and a song began to play within the air.

_You and me and the devil makes three…_


End file.
